Knife sharp

Karl. Asking your thoughts on occasionally using a butcher steel on your knife. I used to work in a butcher shop. The owner "took care" of the knives regarding sharpening but instructed me every so often when my knife was feeling dull to give it some strokes on the steel. It seemed to work ok but I always wondered if I was keeping the correct angle or hitting it too hard. As a result this is what I do with my knives. After watching this I felt I was doing a process that is more aggressive than a strop or a light stone.

darn double post

The world of "sharpening" is beyond words anymore. I really don't think the angle on a steel is of great concern.
I continue to stand by my opinion that in very short order any edge I put on a knife at Andersen Forge is soon lost and becomes the edge of the one now maintaining the knife. Meaning that once a person creates their own edge on a knife what is of utmost importance is the ability to repeatedly maintain that angle.
"Cut" is entirely determined by geometry - so you need to be able to keep whatever geometry you create.
I think a good steel is a good way to get started.
Oblong cross section steels are more effective than round ones. See if you can get one of those.
Watch a few you tube videos on using steels. They're very informative.
There are actually some videos out there that will tell you steels are useless in keeping knives sharp. Really?? (I think those guys are smoking the good stuff.)

Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts.